iPhone demand will outstrip supply

Fresh research claims iPhone will be a sell-out when it ships in the US, notes waiting lists across AT&T stores as America waits for Apple's new market entrant.

By
Jonny Evans
| 23 May 07

Demand for the iPhone seems set to outstrip supply, claims a recent US Channel Checkers survey.

As reported by Macsimum News, the researchers predict "sell-outs and complaints about lack of availability" for the device, which ships in the US next month.

Channel Checker spoke with 36 US Cingular/AT&T stores, and found that 64 per cent of them already have (on average) a 25-person waiting list, while the other shops are only promising to supply the devices on a first come, first served basis.

Channel Checker has some surprising anomalise, Macsimum News quotes the research, which claims: "We did have one outlier in New York City, which we excluded from our average, which had 1,979 people on its waiting list. Another store said ‘we cannot give out that figure but the waiting list is running into the thousands.’ Another store reported that the number of calls for the phone was ‘indeterminable’ as the numbers were massive.”

The research firm also claims that iPhone manufacturing is slightly behind schedule on account of component delays, and supply could be constrained on launch, the report claims.